Investigators: Missing woman may have been shot

Tuesday

Jul 22, 2014 at 1:39 PMJul 22, 2014 at 1:50 PM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) — The missing, pregnant wife of a Marine might have been shot while hunting in California with a married man with whom she was having an affair, court document show.Erin Corwin, 20, who disappeared more than three weeks ago, had planned to meet with her neighbor, Christopher Brandon Lee, to spend a “special day together” on a hunting trip, according to court filings cited by the Desert Sun on Monday (http://desert.sn/1sGKXes ).“It is highly likely that Erin could have been harmed by an unknown firearm,” investigators wrote in the documents. “Sometime after Erin left with Lee, her phone was deactivated (turned off). Detectives believe if Erin was injured and left at an undisclosed location, she would not (be) able to call for help.”A number of people have been interviewed in the disappearance of Corwin but no suspect has been named.Lee, 24, a former Marine, told detectives he was not with Corwin on the day she disappeared. He said he went hunting in Joshua Tree National Park.Corwin disappeared on June 28 after she left her Twentynine Palms home. Investigators say she previously said she was headed to the park. Her husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, reported his wife missing the next day. The investigation has come to focus on Lee, who may have been the father of Corwin’s child, according to an affidavit filed by San Bernardino County sheriff’s Detective Corey Emom.He wrote that he had reviewed text messages sent by Corwin to a friend confirming her romantic relationship with Lee, and the couple had taken a day trip on the day she disappeared.When questioned by detectives, Lee said he had kissed Corwin but they never had sex, according to the affidavit.Lee was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of possessing a destructive device. Lee, then a Marine corporal, was taken into custody July 4 after a search warrant was served at a home in Yucca Valley and then released on bail two days later, the Sheriff’s Department said. A day after that, he was honorably discharged after seven years in the Marine Corps, the Desert Sun said.Lee was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller, who would not give more details.It was not immediately clear whether Lee had hired an attorney, and current contact information in his name could not be found. Several law enforcement agencies and hundreds of volunteers searched a broad swath of desert for Corwin. The search was scaled back last week and continues.